9321811 Hammer This three-year award will support a U.S.-Belgium collaboration in applied mathematics and operations research. The investigators are Peter L. Hammer and Endre Boros of Rutgers University and Yves Crama of the University of Liege. The objective of their research is to conduct a systematic study of discrete optimization and its application to planning and scheduling models for automated manufacturing systems. They will investigate problems in local optimization and local optima; nonlinear inequalities in 0-1 variables; and occurring nonlinear 0-1 models. They will develop algorithms, based on this research, for some specific problems in operations research. The project takes advantage of U.S. expertise in nonlinear 0-1 optimization and combinatorial operations research. This is complemented by Belgium expertise in planning and scheduling models for automated manufacturing systems. Discrete optimization is one of the most rapidly developing fields in mathematical sciences. Current research literature in this field focuses on "linear" models in 0-1 variables. This proposal addresses new problems in nonlinear models. Such models have applications in production management, VLSO design, theoretical physics, finance and statistics for example. This project will advance understanding of discrete optimization and nonlinear models and their applications in science and engineering. ***
